August 15, 2009

Republican honcho recruits suburban congressional candidates

California Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy was in the Chicago area today as part of a recruitment effort aimed at reversing the Democrats’ huge majority in the House during next year's congressional elections.

Of specific interest to McCarthy, who is heading up the National Republican Congressional Committee’s candidate search, is the 10th Congressional District seat along the North Shore being given up by Mark Kirk, who is running for the U.S. Senate nomination. McCarthy said the NRCC won’t get involved in a primary, but wants to be on the ground to find out what’s going on in a district he admits will be difficult to keep in GOP hands.

“It’s helpful to not only find the right candidate and you learn so much more, but you can listen to the political base, you listen to the donors as well and then it’s more of a belief that people are in together and more united,” said the second-term Republican from Bakersfield, Calif. “Sometimes that intraparty fighting stops us from winning certain seats and actually beginning to gain.”

McCarthy, viewed as one of the rising stars from within the GOP ranks, said that coming from California, he understands there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all Republican template for candidates—with Kirk as a prime example. A fiscal conservative, Kirk also is a social moderate with positions that have run counter to the GOP’s social conservatives but which have played well in his district.

Among those who met with McCarthy today on the 10th District race were stock market analyst Dick Green; Bill Cadigan, a former staffer for the district’s previous congressman, John Porter; and businessman Bob Dold.

McCarthy also checked out potential Republican challengers to Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean in the north suburban 8th Congressional District. He said he believes there is a growing frustration among voters that could help the GOP in a presidential off-year election.

When he came into Congress in 2006, McCarthy was one of just 13 new Republicans—the smallest GOP class since 1914 when the House was expanded to 435 members. Facing becoming the minority party, Republicans were “kind of going through the different stages of death. They were in denial. They were lashing out," he said.

Democrats, meanwhile, capitalized on dissatisfaction with President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq.

Watching a series of well-financed voter initiatives aimed at raising taxes to help reduce California’s massive state budget deficit get rejected, as well as less orchestrated tea-party protests, McCarthy said he believes the timing could be in the GOP’s favor if it acts quickly.

“This (tea-party movement) doesn’t mean it’s a movement for Republicans,” he said. “What it does mean though that people are frustrated. They’re frustrated about the spending, they’re frustrated about where it’s going. I think it’s a national issue—part anti-incumbent, part frustrated and not seeing a solution. They’re not going to one party or another but there’s an opportunity to lay out solutions.”

Still, solutions are hard to peddle in the minority without the microphone, he acknowledged. But he is looking for candidates who are “fresh faces” and can “find solutions,” rather than political retreads.

Comments

Whoever wins the primaries need our support. As a party, the GOP needs to come together under the specific goals of getting conservatives elected. We are all passionate about the candidates we all support, but the bottom line is we need to come together to get the winners elected. Unity is the key word after Feb.2nd.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

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Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.